1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for containing bulk material which has a base emptying arrangement and, more particularly, to a device for storing and dispensing bulk materials such as sand, gravel, coke, and other materials of that type.
2. History of the Related Art
Basically two types of containers relating to storing and dispensing bulk material are known from the patent literature and from technical applications. Those which are known primarily for the management of waste glass (for example those according to patent application PCT/NL92/00228) and those which are, most of the time, designed as hoppers for railway wagons or cars, and which have an emptying aperture, operated by a lid.
Waste glass containers generally have individual apertures, through which the glass, primarily bottles, can be inserted. The waste glass containers remain for a certain time period at a waste-product collection site, and they are then removed by special trucks and replaced by empty containers. The emptying takes place either in the glass plant or at a railroad station by lifting of the container shell or by lowering the base, which is pyramid or cone-shaped. Such containers are designed in accordance with the loading and unloading speed, and with the amount of collected material.
In the case of the second type of container, loading as well as unloading is characterized by a high-speed mass flow. Special devices (called train hoppers) are also necessary for unloading. The storage, preceding loading and following unloading, requires special storage devices, called silos. The use of such bulk material containers designed as tops of railroad wagons or cars require a large amount of capital, for the container itself, for the silos, and for the train hoppers. In addition to that, the unit to be used is always at least one entire wagon or car, even if it is only to be partially filled. Reloading onto trucks requires further devices and either a special truck or special tops for miscellaneous distribution.
The present invention provides an improvement over the prior art by providing a bulk material container, which can be emptied through the bottom without a lid-device, which can be built in different sizes (also as an ISO standard container), which makes silos superfluous, or at least limits the need for them, which is simple, robust, and maintenance-friendly, and which has no attached electrical, pneumatic, and/or hydraulic ancillary devices for emptying.